score: 9.5/10

PROS:Beautiful graphics and superb soundCombat is fast and satisfyingExcellent story backed by great voice acting

Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2 is BioWare’s sophomore entry into the Mass Effect Trilogy. The game is more streamlined with most systems redesigned to be more intuitive, while others remain the same to keep the space familiar. That’s the best way to describe my experience with Mass Effect 2; it feels completely new but, at the same time, there’s just enough design carry over to keep you comfortable. It’s like being with a close friend you haven’t seen in a while; time may be between you but you slip right back into the flow of conversation as if you've never parted. The PlayStation 3 version finally feels optimized with the technical issues from the previous entry being smoothed over. Graphical tearing and clipping are no longer noticeable but there are still a few areas where the game stutters as the PS3 struggles to keep up with the data load. The music and sound effects are still spot on though it’s slightly disappointing that the graphics only get a marginal upgrade. If you’re looking for the best experience graphically be sure to play on the PC where you’ll be afforded the opportunity to see the game in its high fidelity glory. Mass Effect 2 looks back to its predecessor in all the right ways: culling the parts that work, tweaking the ones that don’t, and adding in some new mechanics without completely disregarding the gameplay or narrative. The new cast of soldiers fighting by Shepard’s side is just as strong as your previous crew that was with you on your initial foray across the galaxy, and cameo appearances from Mass Effect ensure you don’t forget that they’re still involved in Shepard’s endeavors. The narrative is tight, the graphics still stunning, and the gameplay just as solid. Mass Effect 2 is a worthy entry into the series and, without playing the final game, the best so far; a game you should not miss!

graphics

Where Mass Effect was a grainy, flat experience that buckled under its own weight on the PlayStation 3, Mass Effect 2 runs smooth as silk almost all the time. It’s just a shame that the system feels like it still isn't being fully utilized. The graphics only receive a marginal boost but at least what blasts on your screen isn't choppy and only occasionally slows down for unseen reasons. There is one mission where the rocks float above the ground, and one interaction with one of your squad mates where you both float above the floor. It’s immediately noticeable but only two instances in a game with hundreds of interactions some weird graphics are to be anticipated. The art direction is still spot on as it was in Mass Effect; the entire galaxy is displayed in a cohesive manner and everything is splattered with a high tech finish and dripping with chrome sparkling underneath holographic screens. Most of what you see may feel like old hat tricks recycled from the first game, but the overall patina painted over everything you see is at once recognizable and the slight bump up in texture quality keeps the visuals feeling fresh without alienating the source material. Planet exploration is now more streamlined but I have mixed feelings about this updated mechanic and the toll it takes on the graphics. Part of the exhilarating feelings Mass Effect drew from the player was the ability to land on a planet surface from orbit. Though the MAKO was a physics defying piece of space junk it was still breathtaking to roam the surface of alien worlds. You can still land on certain planets scattered around the galaxy, but now you locate the predetermined spot and are shuttled to the surface instead of giving you free roam. The planets you visit are still gorgeously rendered and each environment is distinct, but being pushed through a series or corridors keeps that open feeling from becoming apparent. It is enjoyable to visit more lush worlds with an ecosystem in place; the barren rocks from the first game are nowhere to be seen and the effect is divine. The new galaxy map is still wonderfully displayed and the color palette remains consistent from the previous entry. Cruising between planets in a solar system continues to be wonderfully awesome but you will notice most gas giants and terrestrial spheres are merely recolors of the same texture with only a handful of exceptions. Every planet is pretty to look at but after a few trips to distant stars you’ll see textures being reused a lot, especially on planets you’re not allowed to land on. Where Mass Effect was mainly white corridors punctuated by splashes of red and orange, Mass Effect 2 is a more vibrant place to play in. Colors are rich, deep, and varied and the different textures used across the game ensure environments are differentiated over the sameness you may have come to expect. It’s a great update to the visuals; that the places you visit that aren't mission critical are each distinct from one another is a fantastic upgrade to the game’s image. While you may miss the emotional tug from wandering around alien planets relatively uninhibited, the locations the games does take you to are jaw-droppingly gorgeous. One mission tasks you with clearing a supercomputer of an insidious digital virus; the walls and floors turn into a gleaming light show of augmented reality computer code. It’s sharp and catchy, if a little gimmicky, but it’s these kinds of additions to the series that are a welcome change to the stark corridor romp that was Mass Effect. The marginal upgrade to the textures also keeps the game looking like it got a face lift, not a transplant from someplace foreign, so the look is recognizable but renewed. Even though the graphics are sharper, more varied, and updated without being completely overhauled you will still come across several strange visuals. Some animations are still stiff and facial animations appear awkward. You will notice some stuttering and slowdown but it’s nowhere near as ruinous as the first title. The game is also stable and didn't crash once in my 60+ hours crossing the vast expanses of the galaxy. All in all the graphics of Mass Effect 2 are nothing short of amazing and are a true upgrade from Mass Effect. Everything is still shiny and high tech and there are some clever camera angles and lighting effects present that really make this impossible universe seem believable adding a touch of realism. Character models are still finely detailed, and weapon and special abilities are displayed with style. No matter where you look Mass Effect 2 will never disappoint you, even when the game stumbles for a few seconds or the sound doesn't totally sync with the graphics. And speaking of sound, Mass Effect 2 is a treat to simply listen to.

Sound

As in the first entry to the series, Mass Effect 2 is a sonic powerhouse that delivers over the entire length of the game, which can be a huge time sink if you track every side quest to completion. The voice acting is strong and with returning actors voicing familiar faces you’ll immediately feel at home. The music is top notch, the voice acting superb, and the sound effects are punchy and crisp. Everything you hear blends perfectly with the on screen action and your eyes and ears are assaulted by nothing but the best. Weapon effects are especially well integrated, with sniper rifles having a weighty boom and pistols discharge with a satisfying staccato. Assault rifles crackle and shot guns rend their victims with a spray of shrapnel that explodes from the barrel. Special abilities such as an energy shockwave sound fantastic, vibrating the room if you’re blessed with a surround sound system with a subwoofer. Bass is deep and rich and higher frequencies are leveled perfectly so they don’t get lost in the cacophony. The whine of your weapons powering up when removed from the holster invites the player to pull the trigger and the sounds of battle are great when the bullets start to fly. There are no flaccid “pew-pew” lasers here; metal slugs are hurtled at your foes with some really impressive sound effects to convey just how injurious your weapons are. Add in the annihilating sonic feedback from the heavy weapons you carry and you got yourself a recipe for the perfect soundtrack. The voice acting is also done well, with only a few strange infections during conversations. As in typical BioWare style, choices are left ambiguous to keep the player on their toes. What’s written and what’s spoken don’t always match your expectations so you’ll certainly weight your options before committing to a reply. Every voice you hear is distinct and you won’t ever feel like the same actor is playing multiple parts. This universe has character and the citizens you interact with feel like separate personalities instead of recycled or tacked on for the sake of bloating the game with pointless side quests. And sitting on top is an orchestral score that adds in some real depth to gun fights and the more quiet moments when you’re just poking around unbothered. The music behind the game is the cherry on top and brings all the other components of the sound under one umbrella of awesomeness. There are some major syncing issues with the sound that, unfortunately, push you out of the immersion. It’s not game breaking but it’s instantly perceptible when the voices are suddenly cut off or the sound effects play two seconds behind what’s happening on screen. As long as you leave the subtitles on you won’t run into problems by not hearing everything that’s being said. Other than this minor quibble, the sound and graphics blend perfectly together to create a game that’s auditory and optical bliss. Tied together with the crisp gameplay and you have a title that skyrockets into the stratosphere of gaming heaven.

GamePLay

From the first moment, Mass Effect 2 is immediately recognizable in terms of how it plays. The opening sequence is so expertly handled and sets the tone of the game from the beginning. Without giving away too much (honestly, just play the game already!), the Normandy that you’ve come to know and love is destroyed and your affectionately molded Commander Shepard killed. It’s rare that a video game causes me to have an emotional reaction but my jaw literally dropped during the opening cinematic. It’s the perfect way to introduce the player to the main story arc and I appreciate this clever narrative trick that allows for changes to your own Commander Shepard without having to come up with some crock to try to explain it away. Killing the savior of the galaxy and resurrecting them wipes the slate clean in a convincing way. It’s a neat way to explain any changes you make if you want to give your Shepard a little makeover before heading out into the galaxy for yet another tryst. A disappointing carry over is that character creation still feels limited, but it works well enough if you try to not obsess over attempting to get your character to look exactly the way you want. Again, Shepard’s head is usually hidden in a helmet but during cut scenes you may be slightly dismayed by his or her overall look. Gameplay is refreshed perfectly. Buttons are mapped familiarly so there’s no new control scheme to figure out, but getting into the game is a test of patience. The initial installation takes forever so you’d best grab a sandwich while you wait. Once it’s complete the game loads quickly every time and the new discreet save system is a welcome change. You don’t have to wait for the game to write the data as in the Mass Effect so you’re kept in the action relatively consistently. Most of the game is really nothing more than a trek from one end of a corridor to the other with some large rooms in between, but the way everything is displayed and the longer length of missions doesn’t disappoint. The lack of recycled set pieces and textures means every place you visit is new and exciting. The story is the real meat of Mass Effect 2 and it’s nearly perfect. The Reapers are back once again to threaten the existence of life in the galaxy and Shepard is called forth to battle once again to save the day. How you get there is up to you, either being charming and sweet or a tough talking badass. The Renegade/Paragon system is a little clunky and the option to influence missions by performing certain actions within this system is a little strange. Some missions only give you Renegade options so if you’re pursuing the opposite role you’ll feel torn by performing something backhanded. Especially when some of these choices really affect the outcome the new way this system is handled seems clumsy. The narrative arc is certainly darker than Mass Effect, with Shepard being forced to work with the Cerberus group for the favor they have provided, including a brand new Normandy. The Hammerhead is the new planet side vehicle, replacing the horrid MAKO and it’s a much needed change. The Hammerhead is responsive and easy to control, a far cry from the sloppy MAKO, but you don’t get to use it often and even then it’s mostly for side quests. It’s a shame it doesn’t feel important enough to include in more missions but I’ll take what I can get. You will come across the remains of the MAKO and honestly I thought, “Good, this is where you belong you piece of rubbish!” Setting aside the tenuous relationship between Shepard and Cerberus, which is thoroughly explored, the main plot is once again stopping the Reapers from controlling the galaxy. It’s nice to have a familiar enemy and especially one that’s so outwardly evil you don’t feel obligated to try to redeem them, nor do you have any uncertainties of conscience. Reapers are bad and that’s the end of it. Your dealings with Cerberus can be manipulated, but I suspect most players will side against this shadowy organization as the game makes it hard to love them. The crew of your new Normandy is really convincing and each seems to have their own motives behind their being there. They’re recruited by the player but there’s no real guarantee they’ll stay, especially if their loyalty missions are botched. Keep everyone in good spirits and research upgrades to their weapons and armor and you have a good chance of everyone surviving the final mission of the game. The only returning crew members are Tali and Garrus, meaning the rest are completely new additions and their back stories and differing personalities ensures you’ll have great fun trying to figure them out. You may miss some of the old crew but the character interactions are much more intimate this time around and it adds humanity to the game that was slightly weak in the first entry. Even though your old crew may have moved on they will crop up in some interesting places so don’t think the game universe just forgot about them! A few mechanics are new and some fall into the same bin of complaints I had for the first game. Instead of pressing X to collect resources from planets or performing that stupid QTE while planet side, you scan every planet in a solar system for resources and launch consumable probes to collect the different elements. It’s bloated and takes far too much time to collect the major deposits and having to constantly buy more probes means a lot of wasted funds. Strip mining every planet you come across leaves you with overflowing resources but you’ll feel compelled to deplete every planet even when you wonder if you should. The new galaxy map is also more interactive but the changes aren’t all that great. Instead of zooming from one cluster to the next, you fly the Normandy out of your current system and across the traverse to a new one. This uses fuel, another consumable you must ensure you constantly stock up on. It’s much more interactive and makes you feel like an actual part of the wider galaxy but it could have been handled better. A spaceship that can travel light years in the blink of an eye needs gas to drive next door? I don’t buy it and it shakes the otherwise solid gameplay a bit. One nice addition to the galaxy map is having tags telling you what missions are where. You no longer have to keep checking your journal to figure out where to go next, but these tags can turn into clutter when you have a bunch of unaccomplished missions still hanging around. Still, it’s a far more eloquent method than constantly having to refer to your journal in the pause menu. Gameplay as a whole is responsive and succinct. The game only feels slightly artificially bloated by the new resource gathering mechanic and some side missions are a little cheesy. What this means is there’s more game to play and not a lot of crap to mire your experience; you move from one mission to the next at a steady pace so you’re almost always doing something that feels important. The main story is dark and terse, a welcome change from the otherwise bubbly narrative from the first game. You will feel like you’re really testing the limits of Commander Shepard especially if they’re following the Paragon tract. Renegade Shepard’s will most likely fit right in with Cerberus and exist comfortably there. You’ll have to make some tough choices here and working for one of your adversaries adds a nice shade to the story. A few hiccups here and there in your total experience isn’t unexpected and most of the game has real purpose behind it. A few fetch quests are slightly boring and raping planets of resources feels pointless after a while, but all in all you’ll be completely lost in the game. Armor can be customized along with Shepard’s casual wear while lounging around the Normandy. Even the color and texture of different armor pieces can be changed which is a nice touch. The “Mission Complete” screen is a little tacky but it works to give you a quick rundown of your success or failure and the little optional collectable items you can purchase from vendors are cute, if unnecessary. As always, there’s a ton of achievements to aim for for those players who like trophies under their belt. No matter where you turn you’ll simply have a ball playing this game even if a few mechanics grow dull with repeated use.

Final Thoughts

Mass Effect 2 proves that second entries aren't always unsuccessful or are exceptionally worse off, a common feeling we've come to expect. Usually the first entry is the hook and arguably the better, or best, of a series; this game breaks that mold, grinds it up, and tosses it in the garbage. Mass Effect was merely the starting point to get the story going; Mass Effect 2 takes everything and zooms away with it spectacularly. The old slog has been shrugged off and everything has been made sleeker and more efficient. Leveling characters has fewer options, but each one is so different from the other, and an unlocked special ability for loyal crew members gives upgrading more meaning. Fully upgrading one specialization opens the option to select from one of two massively powerful upgrades. The truncated mechanics may seem disappointing at first but they serve the game so well they’re easily forgotten and actually compliment your experience by keeping you in the action as opposed to rummaging through menus. The new features are fantastic even if a few of them miss the mark. The Hammerhead is a joy to control even if you barely get to use it, the codex is there to remind you of the little details you may have forgotten, and bringing your Commander Shepard over from the first game ties everything together in a nice little package. The mindless QTE mechanic from the first game is disregarded and replaced by a matching mini game to unlock safes or hack kiosks. It becomes very easy, much like the throw away QTE's, but it’s more interactive and much more interesting than simply pressing the right buttons in sequence. Permanent lock out is still in place if you fail so you have to pay attention to what you’re doing unless you want to constantly be loading up previous saves. A smart story that’s well written and delivered by some fantastic voice work sucks you into the game immediately and doesn't let you go and exemplary sound and graphics keep you playing for hours on end. If you’re in ownership of the trilogy you’ll probably want to immediately pop in the last installment, that’s how much you’ll be invested in the series after this game. Even though the first game was simply amazing, the second in the series makes it look like a sloppy start in comparison. There are a few deletions that you may notice and long for such as equipping your squad with armor you've collected along the way. But without being burdened by an overflowing inventory full of useless junk it frees you up to really focus on actually playing the game. Upgrades don’t change the look of anything and only serve as mathematical boosts so they tend to feel a little flat, but with the amount of customization you’re afforded to tool around with it can be forgiven. The Commander is the only one who has more than two options for armor with different stat boosts associated to different pieces. There aren't many selections to choose from and the weapon load out is a little too shallow, but everything works well even if some of it come off as slightly thin.Mass Effect 2 is one excellent role playing game especially if you bring your character over from the first game. The exploits of the Normandy are captured eloquently and what made the first game a bit of a drag has been either retooled or completely changed to accommodate a more user friendly experience. Gun battles are still tense and frantic and require more user input to ensure success. The AI behind your crew is improved so they don’t require as much babysitting, but they still make poor choices no matter what you do. Overall, Mass Effect 2 is the perfect combination of graphics, sound, and gameplay and is served well by the slicker mechanics. While some parts from the first game that did work well have been lost to the void of space, what you’re handed is honed to such a high gloss you’ll easily get lost without looking longingly behind at the title that started the series. Even though the graphics only get a moderate boost on the PlayStation 3, everything else about this game is so expertly handled you’ll have nothing but fun as you explore the far reaches of the galaxy. This is certainly one of the greatest RPG’s of all time and a game that is worth the over 60 hours you’ll lovingly decant into it. Some omission are missed but overall this new, smoother, and more refined formula sets a new benchmark for the genre and one I hope to see used more often. The darker tone of the story is a welcome turn of events and the choices you make are going to be tough. Will you be the savior of the galaxy or will you select a more sinister path? The choice is yours.